In 1984, for the first time in the 30-year history of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the coveted prize went not to one person, but to two people. Those two people were, of course, figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who beat athlete Sebastian Coe and snooker player Steve Davis in the public vote. Accepting the trophy from (yet to be knighted) Elton John, Dean said, graciously, “I would like to say thank you to everybody that’s helped us over the years to achieve the success that we have.”
Rather romantically, on Valentine’s Day, 1984, at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Torvill and Dean became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time, courtesy of a innovative free-dance programme performed to an abridged version of ‘Boléro’ by French composer Maurice Ravel. Abridged it may have been, but still nearly 20 seconds too long for the four minutes and 10 seconds allowed for musical accompaniment. Thus, cleverly, the routine started with the skaters kneeling, rather than standing, such that the time did not start until the first of their skates touched the ice.
Watched by 8,500 spectators at the Zetra Olympic Hall (now the Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Hall) in Sarajevo and a televison audience of over 24 million in Britain alone, the pair executed the routine almost to perfection. As flowers rained down onto the ice, they received 12 perfect 6.0 scores, including nine out of nine for artistic impression, and six 5.9 scores. A slightly shell-shocked Dean said afterwards, “Tonight we reached the pinnacle. I don’t remember the performance at all. It just happened.”
Remarkably, at the 1984 World Figure Skating Championships in Ottawa, Canada the following March, Torvill and Dean fared better still, recording 13 6.0 scores and five 5.9 scores. They turned professional shortly afterwards, but did, briefly, return to competition, winning the bronze medal in the ice dance at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. According to Austrian referee Hans Katchura, their routine contained an ‘illegal’ overhead lift, which was penalised. Philosophical on defeat, Dean said of the routine, “It was within the rules and entertaining at the same time.”